Tag Archive - musicians

Performing at the Pan Pacific Hotel

June 16, 2010 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

Today I’ll be playing solo guitar at the Pan Pacific Hotel on the Vancouver water front. I’ll be in one of the 8 ocean view suites. I’ll be performing for an event called the Million Dollar Round Table Receptions. I have no idea what that means.

I’m to arrive on site at 4pm and be ready to play at 5pm. The client should arrive at 5:30pm and play until they leave at approximately 6:30pm. (I’m hired until 7pm. And that’s the gig.

So once again parking is the big issue. Parking at the Pan Pacific could run me close to $30 or I could park a few blocks away for $20. I’ll decide once I’m there and I know how much time I have.

Ok, I arrived at the Pan Pacific at 3pm and it looks like parking will cost me $32 so I went next door to the new convention centre and it’s only $2 cheaper so it’s off to the easypark 2 blocks away. But I’m going to wait 7 minutes before I enter to maybe save $3.50 as the time rolls over to 3:30pm.

Now I understand why most musicians show up 15 minutes before the gig. There all trying to save on parking!

Looks like my money goes to the easy park at $25.50 what a deal!

Once I arrived at the ballroom I ran into Kari Heese. Kari is a wonderful photographer and I highly recommend her for any photography you may be looking for. She was doing a photo shoot for Boston Pizza.

So I began playing at 5pm. The ballroom I was playing was the Oceanview suite (rooms 1 thru 4) The problem playing this room is the large glass windows that wrap around the outside of the room. It is one of the loudest rooms I’ve ever played in. What I mean by that is one person could be talking quietly in the middle of the room and I can hear him acoustically amplified at the window I’m playing in front of. Now mutiply that volume with a room full of 100 to 200 people networking. The volume can really wear you down.

Fortunately I only had to play until 7pm. I then packed up and hit the road.

BTW… the parking only cost me $24.50. (I saved a buck)

Late Night Bingers Anonymous

June 15, 2010 in LNBA with 2 Comments

One of my biggest personal issues is in the evening after working an event or at the end of the day in general is this habit of having a bite to eat. Now I’m beginning to realize it’s more of an addiction. It’s my own personal eating disorder. It seems to be my way of winding down at night and I’ve got to stop! So I’m creating a new category on my blog called “Late Night Bingers Anonymous” LNBA. It’s my way of keeping me accountable to myself and my health.

Last night on the way home from my gig at 11:30pm I bought and eat a double cheeze burger fries and coke. Can you believe it! What the hell is wrong with me! Time to see if blogging about this will stop my LNB madness.

Here’s why I think this could work and by the way, I’d love your feedback or comments…

For a very short time I had a journal that I kept in a drawer were I would right down everything I did each day. It was a way to help me see that I was accomplishing something. The journal was really good and did make me feel good at the end of the day to see every day there was always a few positive achievements. (some days very small but never the less there was something there to look back on and say… “hey today was ok”) I then thought there has to be a way to stop me from eating at night. (for me it’s more like binging) So each morning when I began my journal I would write. “I didn’t eat tonight, no LNB (late night binging)!!! Because I wrote it in the morning as though it was the end of the day, I found that evening I actually did not eat because I already wrote it down in the journal. I know you may think this is really weird but for me It Works!

Here’s my problem. I got lazy and after 2 or 3 days I stopped the journal.

So why blog???

I’m now addicted to blogging my gig events. Why???

1st because it’s giving me content for my web presents as a musician (all the web gurus are telling us it’s a must do)

2nd I think blogging about my gig’s may be of interest to other musicians and maybe others in general (I get to play and see some very cool people and places every day) so I like sharing my experiences.

3rd Like journaling, writing this all down seems very therapeutic. At the end of my post I can say… Hey I had a pretty interesting day! Were as in the past it all was feeling pretty dull (hard to believe but day to day events can fly by and feel really uneventful even as an entertainer) We’re always dreaming about being the big star and forgetting just how great each moment (no mater how small) can really be if we just write it down and reflect on it.

4th because I’m committed to blogging (and I can do it from my blackberry anywhere) I think I can keep journaling in this blog to stop my LNB addiction!

So… let’s see if this last a day or 2. Or could it really make a difference for me??

Here goes…

Jerrico Tennis Club gig

May 14, 2010 in Behind the scene at the Gigs with 0 Comments

My Setup at the Jerrico Tennis Club, Vancouver, BCToday I’m playing at the Jerrico Beach Tennis Club in Vancouver just outside the Kitsalano district right on the ocean. This is a very nice private, members only club with a fantastic view of the water and the north Vancouver shore.

This is one of those wonderful Vancouver venues that while playing I get to look out and watch the sun set out on the ocean. Today I’ll be performing in the club house lounge gazing out the windows. Other times we’ll perform pool side.

Inside the Jerrico Tennis ClubToday Andre and I are playing as a guitar duo. I’ll be arriving at 7pm to set up our small pa system. We’ll begin playing at 8pm until midnight.

Finding a place to park was tough! Usually I can find a spot on the street at the entrance to the venue however, today was the first hot summer time Friday and I think everyone here in Vancouver was at Jerrico Beach.
Fortunately I was able to unload my pa at the club and found a pay parking spot a few blocks away. Unfortunately the Tennis Club staff, including the musicians are not allowed to use the clubs parking no matter how much equipment you have.

The view from the Jerrico Tennis ClubOnce I arrived back at the club it was time to quickly set up and begin playing. Unfortunately for us this is a very loud room with large windows everywhere. It’s very tough to dial in a great sound here however everyone seemed to really enjoy our performance.

At midnight it was time to end our performance, tear down the gear and head home. The ugly part of this gig was having to lug all my gear 3 or 4 blocks to my vehicle. Sometimes being a performing musician, especially a band leader, is 15% is actually playing and the other 85% is lugging gear, setting up, tearing down and driving. But that 15% playing the guitar and entertaining wonderful people in a beautiful venue while watch the set on the ocean makes it all so worth while!

Another view from the Jerrico Tennis ClubNext, Monday, May 17th I’ll be back on the Magic Charm to sail around Vancouver for another cruise gig.

My Cd artwork featured in Jon Chappell’s new book “The Recording Guitarist – A Guide for Home & Studio

May 11, 2010 in Day to Day with 0 Comments

I was very flattered to have been contacted recently by Jon Chappell. Jon is a multi-style guitarist, arranger, and former editor-in-chief of Guitar magazine.

Jon ran across the artwork for my CD “Beyond Boundaries” in a Google search. He loved the artwork and wanted to use it for his new book “The Recording Guitarist–A Guide for Home & Studio,” to be published by Hal Leonard this summer. (This is actually a revised edition of a book he wrote a decade ago.) Check it out here: www.halleonard.com

Beyond Boundaries Cover ArtMy cd will appear is in a section discussing CD packaging and “the right way to do things.” Jon is advising musicians on the importance of their CD art, and, as in all parts of the book, He would like to show real-world examples that illustrate the positive ideals of the subject under discussion. It’s nice to hear my cd is a shining example of that!

I would also like to mention that it’s very important to use an extremely good photographer and Carmen Tome’s photo’s are amazing! A Big thank you to Carmen for her photography of all the cd artwork you see on Beyond Boundaries.

To learn more about Carmen Tome and her wonderful work visit her website: www.carmentome.com

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